My Life Through Song

"Put me in coach" Those words shaped my childhood. My friends and I would go down to "the lot" every day durring the summer and play ball, I guess you could compair my friends and I to the gang in the movie "The Sandlot" Mixing and matching teams, using tires or whatever we could find as bases and then running when someone broke a window or hit a ball against the house across the street. Yes we all wanted "our moment in the sun" as the song says. I grew up around the game, it's like oxygen to me, I need to to live. My buddies and me would spend every day in that old vacent lot that lied between two houses, when i drive by it today it doesn't see very big, maybe 40 by 50 yards. We would sneak tires out of a shed thats behind the lot and use them for bases. Sometimes we would use old ball gloves when the peope were home who owned the shed.





I love this song, rather than a wal-mart parking lot, this song reminds me of the baseball field parking lot in my tiny town of McCool Junction. Chris Cagle puts in to words what that gravel filled oasis means to me. That to is the place where I thought I was hot stuff because I was able to drive that old jlopie my dad gave to me, the same place where every weekend night every one would scrable to hide their beer when old barny 5 rolled through. Ya thats even like the song goes "Had my first kiss". Ya there isn't much to do in my home town so we had to create different ways to have fun, I have some of my favorite memories in that place. we'd stay out till 2am driving golf carts around the baseball field, blowing up fire crackers or go parking with our girls. Ya that old place means a lot to me, it's defantly a place where "We did a lot of livin, it was small-town teenage heaven".


Kenny Chesney - No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems


"No shirt, no shoes, no problems" Is the way I like to live my life. This song always makes me think of the days me and my buddy alex skipped school and wend down by the river where there was a beach and just sat back and enjoyed life while all our counter parts were in the middle of english. All we needed was a cooler, a boombox, some lawn chairs and some fishin poles and we were in heaven. This song brings out the carefree side of myself, and be a bartender somwhere in the virgin islands. My bud alex and I would sit on that sand bar that lies past the tree line. It was our own oasis where we didn't have a care in the world, we named it kokomo, you know get their fast then take it slow. I remember tellin mom bye before school then meeting Alex in the baseball field parkin lot and hoppin in the truck where we would drive down the gravel road driving through the cornfield parkin the truck in the shade. It was the perfect spot no even the farmer whos land it was could find us. the riverside was nesseled behind the rarely used gravel road that's home to an old rusty bridge where my senior call took our group picture.



Small Town


I was born in a small town! This song and video really hit home to me. The song I think speaks for its slef when you hear the words. When you watch this video you see kids playing baseball which is big in my book, there is also a picture of a kid maybe 4yrs old in a ball uniform holding a bat and this is exactly what my baby pictures look like bat in one hand ball in the other. You also see people running track and pole vaulting and in my tiny little piece of americana I call McCool Jucntion, track and field is a following, we currently have won our conference in track for 6 straight years so everybody in the town is big on the sport. There is this seen in the vido where there's a homeade vido clip of kids roller skating, and this really takes me back to when I was growing up goin to friends birthday parties at the roller ring, tryin to impress the girls with our moves when half the time we'd end up on our butts embarrased, but hey can't blame a kid for tryin right?

We Rode In Trucks


To me when you live in a small rural town riding in trucks is a way of life and when I first heard this song it just made me smile cause it perfectly describes my friends and I, for instance "That's us hallin hay in the field with the radio on. That's us headin straight into town when the work is done" perfectly states what every day is like where I'm from cause heck everybody has hauled hay a time or two, and for the most part all of us work for farmers or what have you and on friday afternoon when the works done, were head into town to pick up some ladies, lay a little rubber and raise some hell. Theres a place in the video where it shows two buddies spining cookies in a field with the doors off of the pickup and that is what me and my friend used to do when we hand nothin better to do, it really reminds me alot my me and him gettin stuck countless times in his old chevy.


Craig Morgan - Redneck Yacht Club


Yea it's probably funny to most but this is what summer on the lake outside of my town is like on the weekends. The little lake thats spose to be "private" hasn't closed the gate in the last 10 years. Everyone has a few friends that live out there or atleast have a cabin. This tiny litte man made lake that's the shape of a horseshoe has about 25 or so houses around it. My friends their family all spend at least a couple of weekends out on that lake, if they dont get on the lake it's a good bet they spend a few days on a picknick table drinkin some brewskies watchin all the kids make fools out of themselves knockin eachother off the tubes and water ski's or what have you. The last place you'd expect to find a like is where this one lies, out off some gravel road outside of town, turn down the drive past the unshut and never locked gate down the road where you see 6 or 7 year olds drivin 4 wheelers shootin bb guns at squrrels. Ya it's a place where "basstrackers, bayliners and a party barge, are strung together like a floating trailer park anchored out and gettin loud all summer long side by side there's five houseboat front porches astroturf, lawn chairs and tiki torches regular joes rocking the boat that's us the redneck yacht club"




I swear this song was made about my hometown, every lyric rings true even the pale blue water tower is true. This song makes me proud whenever I hear it, it always puts a big smile on my face. The video starts by rollin through town showin a pale blue water tower just like the one that sits up the road from my house. I espically love the part where it showes the old men talking over coffee in my town this place is whats called the C.A.V.E. or better know as Citizens Against Virtually Everything this is where all the old farmers go in the middle of the day to crab and bullshit about everything from whos gettin married to who's the starting quarterback this year. The last thing in the video that paints a spittin image of my town is when the song "goes we're off to Sunday service at the Church of Christ, and if we want a seat, we better leave right now" because every sunday the curch is just packed even though we have 3 in our tiny town, you better leave earily for church unless you want to get a good seat.

I Go Back


This song defantly takes me back. The video brings back so many memories of me growing up. Right from the get go you see Kenny walkin and flashes of different memories that takes me back and one of those is a quick glance of placks on the wall that reminds me of my high school lobby with a bunch of distirct title placks and what not covering the walls. And then it shows Kenny standing against lockers and it reminds me off all those times we'd skip class and hangout in the locker area or my gym locker that I hold very sacred in my heart because growing up a guy has a few things that are a part of him and that was certanly one of mine. Next is when you hear whats probably a coach saying those infamous words everyone hears growing up "You don't realize it right now but in 15, 20 years from now your gonna say man those were the greatest times of my life" And now being a full year removed from high school I realize that I'm probably going to be sayin that in 15 years. Then the music kicks in with him standing on the middle of that "old gym floor" goin "Jack and Diane painted a picture of a life in my dreams, and suddenly the crazy world made more sense to me" I cant put into words the feeling that goes through my body when I listen to this song, its like a timepiece just plays over and over in my mind those good times I've had and will never forget.

Way down yonder on the chattahoochee!

Alan Jackson - chattahoochee


This song would have to be one of my favorites right now because it's where I picture myself in about 20 days when school gets out, just cruising on down the road with nothing to worry about except what I'm gonna do tonight. I believe this song summarizes what kind of person I am when it's summer; you know the type, slacker, care free, relaxed. This song really hits home to me and my friends back home because we always end up at the lake or down by the river outside my home town of 372 people, so when I hear the song go "Down by the river on a Friday night, a pyramid of cans in the pale moonlight, talking bout cars and dreaming bout women, never had a plan just living for the minute." It really takes me back to the summers spend with my best friends and the crazy nights we had we sure did learn "A lot about livin and a little bout love". I kind of have to laugh when I think about all those times, about all those conversations about the different girls my friends and I used to dwell on. Listening to this song will hopefully make these next 20 days go faster and hopefully the next 90 after that go slow, so I can lay a little rubber on that blacktop road, get a little crazy and hopefully not get caught then sit back relax and talk about cars and dream bout women way down yonder on the Chattahoochee.

"My better is better than your better"

“My better is better than your better” “My power hits harder” “You can’t stop me” “Your agility owes my agility 20 bucks” The commercial above uses your emotions or pathos rather to push a line of Nike training gear. This commercial is geared toward “the athlete” using slick sayings or lines that are somewhat like scare tactics that distract the audience from the evidence or relevant issues.


The commercial starts out with professional football player Ladainian Tomlinson saying “My better is better than your better” which sets the table for the slew of catchy sayings that are to follow. Throughout the course of the commercial various athletes, playing sports or in the middle of drills, reel off many different sayings. This plays to the emotions that are strongly tied to athletes, by showing famous athletes such as Hope Solo, Steve Nash, Matt Holliday and USC head football coach Pete Carroll in the middle of drills where athletes watching the commercials themselves have been. This mentally places the viewer in that place, then hearing catchy sayings related to cocky, brash attitude that an athlete has when overly confident with themselves. Then the commercial is all tied together at the end when NIKE SPARQ TRAINING flashes across the screen followed by the infamous Nike slogan “JUST DO IT” paired with their trademark Nike swoosh.


This is a display of Over-sentimentalization. It distracts the viewer away from the relevance of the issues of sport, forget about the training itself, all you see and hear are athletes shooting off at the mouth telling you that their “Fast is faster” but not displaying why. They draw the athlete in with the famous athletes and fun and catchy sayings, but don’t show why or how the product is good or why you should use it. Nike uses the famous athletes popularity to sell the product, because it makes a fan of a particular athlete think “Well if Steve Nash uses this stuff I should to” . Then at the same time the commercial is displaying false needs as well. This product has was not around when Steve Nash or Hope Solo were growing up so its not like they used these products to get where they are, but Nike associates their product with these great athletes so young aspiring athletes who’s idols are people like Matt Holliday think that they need the product to be like them when in reality those famous athletes didn’t just a certain product to mold themselves into an elite athlete but rather busted their butt day in and day out for years to get them where they are today. So therefore this creates confusion when you separate fact from fiction. And to finally sum up the exaggerated uses of pathos you have the scare tactic factor in all of this. Look at the commercial then look at it again, look into the eyes of all those athletes, what do you see? Will, determination, guts, and relentlessness. It makes you step back and think get with the program, because if you don’t you will be left in the dust. You have all these professional athletes promoting something so you tend to listen to them when they have something to say when it comes to athletics. So if Steve Nash tells me to eat my Wheaties ever morning I’ll defiantly look into it, this is scaring a person into using a product. Cause if you don’t your agility is gonna owe their agility 20 bucks.

Cause and effect is slightly used here if you make the connection. The connection is between the athlete using the product and the non-users of the product. Because if you don’t use the product the person who is using the product their has the upper hand, thus their “Power is more powerful than your power”. Cause and effect is also show between the famous highly accomplished athlete and their supposed use of the product. Because Steve Nash uses the product and he won 2 MVP's and Hope Solo uses the product and she is the goalie for team USA soccer. This ultimately results in the viewer associating Nike Sparq Training gear with great success.

The commercial also displays classification and division somewhat to show you how the product fits into the larger scheme of things. Once again they use famous athlete after famous athlete to link their product to those athletes and ultimately their success, so therefore they are helping the viewer conceptualize how the product fits into a larger idea or scheme, which in this case is professional sports.

This same idea in the commercial hits on example and illustration to show how the product can be used to impact someone’s life. The products are used for increasing sports performance so therefore when they once again associate famous athletes success with their product they are illustrating how their product can impact ones life.

The ad, among all other things, shows narration to sell their product. The clever yet brash lines that are said throughout the commercial make up the backbone of the commercial, it gives it an identity “My better is better than your better”. When you pair that with athletes, famous ones none the less, it gives it a trademark, something to be remembered by. It sticks out in the back of your mind, you want to tell someone that your “Quick, quickie von quick quick” on the basketball court. Thus the commercial has done its job.

"Just Do It"

This commercial is a somewhat inspirational Nike commercial with a hysterical spin on it. It shows famous athletes such as Lance Armstrong boxing, when in real life he was the greatest cyclist of all time. It also shows Andre Agassi, one of the greatest tennis players of all time playing baseball for the Boston Red Sox. This pattern continues throughout the commercial using famous athletes playing or participating in a sport that they aren’t known for. In each case the athlete is excelling at the activity at which they are doing, for instance when Randy Johnson, a great major league baseball player is shown bowling a 300 game or when Serena Williams, a professional tennis player, is shown playing pro beach volleyball and she spikes for the win of a match. There is an underlying theme besides the famous athletes competing in different sports, it is that they are all focused, zoned in, achieving greatness. At the end of the commercial it shows Randy Johnson receiving a trophy, Andre Agassi getting an ovation from the Red sox fans, and finally shows Lance Armstrong being lifted up by his supporters and carried away with his fist in the air after winning the boxing match with the Nike slogan "Just Do It" fading to the classic Nike swoosh. This is associating Nike with greatness and amazing physical achievement and most importantly it displays strength with Lance Armstrong’s fist in the air.

Musical experience

As I sit here listening to the "musical experience" it's indifferent because it has a soothing feel but at the same time it's kind of hip. I'm getting a mellow feel that I associate with the 60's but then I hear an old school sounding blues/big band sound going on that makes me think of the 50's. The music side of me is confused at the moment because whenever I listen to music I somewhat adapt and go with its flow but I'm hearing some soft loose tunes mixed with sketchy drumming and guitar, so I feel a bit out of place. Now there is a screeching noise that sounds like crows squawking. Man this stuff is out there. When the cd players say what tracks they are one after the other it's really eerie. Now this is really strange because despite the music being different from cd to cd they all kind of feed off each other they all get loud at the same time then phase out together as well. This stuff is weird I feel like I should be at a Pink Floyd laser show right now. Wow this stuff is really random I hear what sounds like a 747 jet taking off right now. I'm beginning to zone out right now and I hear a pretty chill sounding tune, something that I might play on a lazy summer day. Just as I hear a song that would be background music for an old film from the 40's I hear a something that sounds like going through a car wash. As I digress I'm thinking man this stuff is really random and crazy but at the same time I think I kind of dig it. As I lie here with my face down and eyes shut Mr. Ware probably thinks I'm sleeping, oh well. Man this music is making me write some crazy stuff, it's defiantly disturbingly inspirational. Never did I think I could feel so mellow but be so creaped out at the same time. During this last track it's getting really crazy, there is dialoged about dogs and stuffed animals. The crazy thing about the words are that each phrase is a different voice but the same sentence, all while having a pretty sweet beat going on. As the music stops I look up and I can tell by the look on everyone’s faces that they are just as spooked by this stuff as I am by this whole experiment that has just taken place.

Observation

Killing two birds with one stone I figured I’d do my observation over a personal trainer because I have field experience class that requires me to be in the field observing a health care professional. Walking through the sliding doors I sit down at a chair in the lobby in front of a T.V. Watching Good Morning America immediately notice the clean atmosphere, walls all white with most other objects around the facility light colors, comparable to that of a hospital only less eerie and more comforting. He walks through the automatic sliding door with a black Nike bag slung over his shoulder smiles and says hi to the ladies at the front desk, walks to his office, pulls his keys from his pocket unlocks the door after a few jingles. Puts his bag under is desk, presses the power button on his computer, taps his foot a few times and goes back to the front desk and chats with the ladies for a few moments, talking about the drive and how the wind and snow was blowing all over the place, grabs a cup of coffee and heads back to his office. Chris is a personal trainer and fitness director at Fitness Works in York, Nebraska. Chris explains to me that his job isn’t just helping clients in the gym but doing book work and scheduling as well. As he explains the requirements of his job I think to myself that his job is very demanding, because not only does he have to be a NSCA (National Strength & Conditioning Association) certified personal trainer and but he has to know the ins and outs of running a business as well, and that’s not to mention having to keep up with the quickly growing and changing field of fitness in today’s world of an overweight nation. Taking a sip of coffee he sits down and opens up payroll and begins to open each employees file making sure each bank statement is correct. After about an half hour of working on payroll he moves on to putting the schedule together for the up coming month. Given his body language he obviously isn’t entertained with the task at hand, rolling his eyes, yawing and frequently taking a drink from his coffee. He begins to start writing down people to work on various days, after awhile he sighs because he’s having a tough time finding someone to work on the third Sunday in March, he urgently walks to the front desk to see if any of the ladies are willing to work on that day. Unfortunately the ladies when asked politely declined and continued to fold towels and sip on their morning cup of coffee. Heading back to his office he begins to go down the call list, after three or four calls he smiles nods his head hangs up the phone and gives a sigh of relief. For the next half hour he continues to work on the schedule until glancing at the clock on the wall above his desk he realizes it’s 10:54, about time for his training session with a new client. A few minutes later his client, Mark, arrives itching to workout, aggressively stretching, his smile beaming with confidence, he throws his towel over his shoulder and follows Chris to the treadmill, Chris tells his client to hop on for five minutes to warm up. After warming up he tells Mark to get a drink of water before they hit the weights. Chris begins going over Marks workout plan with him, telling him what workouts they are doing and why. After a few minutes of discussion they get started, Chris helps Mark load weight on the leg press, he tells mark to breath out when pushing the weight up and to breath in when lowering it. After this workout they move from machine to machine discussing how each set of lifts felt in between each one. While Mark is doing his exercises I ask Chris why he is having Mark use machines when free weights are better for you. Chris explains that for the average Joe that hasn’t been in the gym since college or high school it’s easier for them to use machines to get started with a fitness program then slowly move them onto free weight exercises. This makes a lot of sense to me because not everyone is going to jump head first into exercising, sometimes you have to hold their hand a bit and slowly push them along, and I guess that’s what people like Chris are there for. After about 45 minutes of this they shake hands and Mark heads into the locker room with sweat dripping from his face and an empty look in his eyes, but with a smile none the less. As Mark opens the door to the locker room I smell the strong stench of disinfectant cleaner most likely ammonia based by the smell. Chris heads back to his office to check his email. A moment later I notice the janitor, Rick, wheel out of the locker room with his cleaning cart, again noticing the stench of cleaner. With a knock at his open door he turns to see a lady standing there waiting for a response, he says softly “how are you, what can I do ya for?” She wants to be tested to see what her body fat percentage is. Chris gets up and takes a small plastic case off the shelf behind him, walks back to the aerobics room with him to have the test done. As I walk in the aerobics room the smell of sweat is apparent amongst the humid atmosphere, probably from a early morning aerobics class.

He lays out a padded mat and instructs her to take her right shoe and sock of and then lay down. He opens the case and takes out a small electronic device that perform a bioelectrical impedance analysis, a few wires and some test strips that resemble band aids. He peals back the protective paper on the test strips and places two on her foot and two on her hand, hooks the wires up to the machine then on to the device. With a quick press of a button he tells her she’s done and to meet her in his office. He goes to his office opens up a program on his computer, types in a few numbers that came from the device and he’s done. After printing off a body mass readout for the lady he looks it over for a second and then discusses the results with her. He hands her the sheet and shakes her hand, after glancing at the sheet one last time before she leaves she sighs and frowns in obvious disappointment. Getting back to work on the scheduling Chris takes about 15 more minutes to finish that off. While watching Chris finish up the work schedule I’m begging to notice what it takes to succeed in a position like Chris’s, you have to be subtle but at the same time be confident and demand respect. Today Chris is working though the lunch hour because being a personal trainer a lot of people workout over their lunch hour so he is making himself available to more clients. It’s about 15 after noon and various business men and women rush through the door to get a quick workout in. A older gentlemen with blue jeans and a cowboy had on walks in Chris’s office and asks what he should do to be healthier. Chris goes out into the gym and talks for a few minutes with the older blue collar fellow. He tells him that he should come in the gym at least 2-3 time a week and jump on the treadmill and walk for 20 minutes, then hop on a few weight machines focusing on lifting a lower amount of weight 10 to 15 times building stamina and cardiovascular endurance. Chris goes on to tell him that he should try to be more active around the house by doing things such as mowing the lawn with a push mower instead of a rider or racking leaves rather than using a leaf blower. Shortly after this a young woman, looking to be in her mid 20’s probably a few years removed from college, tells Chris that she wants to start doing more cardio, Chris goes back into his office, opens a file on his computer and modifies her current workout routine, changing her two 20 minute cardio sessions per week to 30 minutes and making them four times every week, he puts for her to do 30 minutes of cycling once a week and 30 minutes of jogging three times a week. After making all the adjustments he clicks print and hands her the sheet. With the look in her eyes I can tell she is enthused by what Chris has given her to do, obviously anxious to tackle a new goal, maybe a new year’s resolution of hers. Chris begins to walk around the gym, taking off weights off an abandoned squat rack, picking up towels and putting them in the hamper. A young kid, maybe 16 years old asks Chris if he can change the news channel in front of his treadmill to a basketball game, between the Phoenix Suns and the Detroit Pistons, Chris politely nods and goes to get the remote from the front desk. After he changes the channel he continues to roam around the gym cleaning off weights, putting exercise balls away as well as medicine balls left out by customers. While following Chris around the gym like a puppy I ask him what his favorite part of the job is, he smiles and softly says, “I just enjoy interacting with people constantly throughout the day, keeps me busy and it doesn’t make it seem like I’m doing work but rather enjoying a hobby of mine, because I’ve always enjoyed both talking with people and have been fascinated by sports what you can do physically with the body, so when you put them both together it’s really the ideal situation to be in for a guy like me.” Looking out the window on the north side of the building he notices the weather is getting bad outside, worried he goes back to his office to check the weather on his computer. After a few minutes of searching he finds that it’s going to snow till eight at night. He picks up the phone and calls his boss to tell him that he’s going to leave to make it home before the roads get worse, Chris has an hour drive from work to home so he’s quickly trying to get ready to leave. He first calls a client that had an session scheduled for later that night to tell her that he will have to reschedule. After this he turns off his computer, puts on his coat, grabs his bag from under his desk and throws it over his shoulder. Leaving his office and locking the door behind him he quickly scurries out the front door waving at the ladies at the front desk as he passes by. Just like that he is gone, headed east is his white SUV. After shadowing Chris throughout the day I realize he is kind of like a quarterback at his job, being the “go to guy” he has to know the job and meet its demands while also relating and teaching other people what to do. Chris has to confidently bop from task to task maintaining a professional image meeting new people and instructing them what to do while also teaching them a little bit of what he knows at the same time.

If I were stranded on a deserted island with only a "ghetto blaster" I would just want a bunch of tunes to jam out to because hey if your stranded ya' might as well have something to groove to ya know! The first tape I would want would defiantly have to be a Jimmy Buffet tape. I say this because it would just feel right to have some island blues to sing along with while on a beach, it would be an all but perfect situation. For my next tape I'd have to go with some good old Eagles tunes. Listen to the Eagles puts my mind in a good place, one where I can just kick back sing along and forget about my worries while singing to them, kind of like therapy I guess. Then next set of tracks I would have with me is some of those classic John "Cougar" Mellencamp hits. Having some of those classics to listen to would take me back a few years and put a smile on my face, bcause for the most part his songs are about being young and having a little bit of innocent fun. Another tape I would have to go with would be one of Kenny Chseney's. Again along the lines of looking back at life and being able to just have a grin on your face thinking about all the good times. And another reason is because he mixes country along with island/reggae music all while having a good time. The last cassette would have to be one of Alan Jackson's. All his music seems to him home with me quite literally. From the song "Chattahoochee" to "Summertime blues" because all his songs seems to be about what it's like to live in a rural area experiencing life and whenever I hear his songs they take me back.

Jimmy Buffet
The Eagles
John "Cougar" Mellencamp
Kenny Chesney
Alan Jackson

Team Hoyt

I was recently watching videos on youtube, jumping from one thought to the next and then when I got done watching a video on Lance Armstrong I saw a video that caught my eye for no one reason in particular, so I clicked on it. While watching it my emotions ran high, I felt inspired, driven and moved. In 4 short minutes my mind went from thinking about myself and all the things going on in my life to being selfless and thinking about others and how good I really have it. The video I have below is the video I watched. While watching this video I thought of many things, among them is what one person can do with a life, how you can make things better for others, and what you can achieve when willing to do so. In the video Rick and father Dick Hoyt, otherwise known as team Hoyt, compete in marathons, triathlons and even iron man competitions. Rick was born with cerebral palsy and the doctors told Dick and his wife to put Rick in an institution, but they didn't listen. When Rick was about 12 he asked his dad if he would push him in a five mile race for charity, even though Dick wasn't a runner he agreed. After the race that night Rick told his dad that when he was out there it made him feel like he wasn't disabled, since then they have competed in 942 events, including 216 Triathlons (6 of which were Ironman competitions), 20 Duathlons, and 65 Marathons, including 25 consecutive Boston Marathons. They also biked and ran across the USA in 1992, a 3,735 mile journey that took them 45 days. They are an inspiration to everyone everywhere. This video makes me believe in myself and others as well. It showed me that even when everyone else around you is telling you to do otherwise to follow no one and just believe in yourself. Watch the video an you to will believe.



"you can"- Team Hoyt

“I am building a fire, and everyday I train, I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match.”

Your will must be stronger than your skill. I found this sentence very true to myself. To understand that I must explain to you that in life I've always been the underdog, therefore I had to be mentaly tougher than anyone and everyone else, mainly this pertains to sports but that also bleeds into my life because sports have shaped who I am as a person. Growing to be only 5'8 hasn't helped my cause in sports. I wasn't born with much natural tallent, so all that I have accomplished I have earned, nothing has been givin to me, I have had to take it. Throughout high school I played four different sports, and everyday at every practice I gave my all. I had to work twice as hard to get half the results as most others. Dont get me wrong over the years I have molded myself into a fairly deicent athlete but this hasn't been easy, it has came with great sacrifice. Instead of relaxing on a saturday afternoon planing that nights activities, you would find me in the gym practicing my shot, or on the road running yet another mile. I eat healthy, I don't drink pop, I've never had a drop of alchol, not because I don't nessisarly want to, because sometimes I'm tempted, but because I can't in order to give myself a shot at achieving the goals I have set for myself. This gives me great a great sense of satisfaction at the end of the day knowing I have done everything in my power to make myself better., Leading this lifestyle has makes me appriciate those who have overcome adversity to succeded in professional sports despite not being textbook athletes such as Steve Nash, Steve Prefontaine, Wes Welker and world series MVP David Eckstein

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." -- Tim Notke

Kenny Chesney: Young

The song that this video is about characterizes to a certain extent what it's like to be young. When I listen to this song it takes me back to the last four years of my life, a place where I love to go. I guess when you just sit back and listen to the lyrics in the song it does a good job of reflecting what it means to be young, the things that you do, how you act and what it feels like. To me to be young is to be innocent and brash, not knowing consequences and not really caring about them even if you do. You see, cause when your young you just do things to do them, for hell of it ya know. Weather is's hanging road signs from the schools flag pole or spray painting your name on the water tower your not really caring what tomarrow will bring, but rather are just living in the moment. I believe Kenny Chesney, the person who sang this song, sums it up perfect when he said, "The more you live, the more you know, and the more you experience, the more you reflect on everything around you. You become more aware, whether you want to or not." And as we grow older we find ourselfs looking back more and more often wondering how felt to be young so innocent. When your in high school you hear people say "When it's over you will look back on it and say those were the best days of my life", and when you hear that you just kind of laugh because you dont think it's true. But now that my high school days are behind me I realize I will never be around those people as much as I was then, which is crazy and depressing to think of at the same time because it means your growing up, thuse no longer "young". It's at this moment that I think, why? Why do we have to grow up? Dont get me wrong I think you should want to be successful, but at what price? Hopefully not our happiness. Think of it this way, whould you say I'm not successful if I droped out of college to be a bartender in the bahammas, or go work on the farm for the rest of my life? I think society now a days bases success to much on how much money you have in your pocket or what piece of paper you have framed on your wall. Where does happiness come into play? Because to be young to a certain extent is to be happy. So therefore I hope I never "grow up".

I had always viewed anything that I had to do for school as work. Before college I really didn't have that many options as to what classes I wanted to take, so having a predominately predetermined class schedule I usually wasn't too excited to be in certain classes so therefore whenever I was assigned homework it didn't interest me, I was just going through the motions. Although the work was easier than college it wasn't very exiting. Now being in college and for the most part being able to take whichever class you want to gives me a sense of freedom when it comes to class work, or rather a breath of fresh air. The homework I get assigned now is that of a class I selected and if I picked that class it's most likely a subject that I'm interested in so therefore I really can't complain all too much. When I sit down to do the work now I don’t really look at the work as if it were manual labor, rather as an opportunity to explore and learn about something I'm interested in. So now than I'm in college I look at class work or homework with a sense of individualization unlike in high school where the work gives you more of a general feel for education when compared to the in depth view and analysis of a college course. So now when I look at the big picture I have ultimately came to the conclusion that I have to more than just pass the next test or study a subject but rather have to be consumed by the work and fully know and understand all of the material I'm being fed so I can be successful in the days that lie ahead.

Quote from Atwan 02

"Good writers are good readers. They read often and from a wide variety of sources. As they read, or after they finish a selection, they note down interesting passages or write a response to the reading in a journal. Good writers pay attention to the author's style and note the techniques the author uses to make his or her points." - Robert Atwan

I choose this quote because I feel it is very true and also relates to me through past expierences. I believe that a good writer is well rounded in the art of litature. What I mean by this is that a writer, espically a good one would pay attention to the slightest details when it comes to reading, for example they would note how a sports columnist builds up the atmosphere of a big game and how he delivers the result. In my mind a good writer never turns off his talent or passion for litature itself, even when reading the sunday paper he or she would find themself breaking down and analyzing every column and article. This bids true for me when I read in my spare time, I find myself writing certain things down in a note book, for example when I read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown everytime the book took a twist or turn I wrote it down and this helped me fully understand the authors style of writing and how he builds up the storyline throughout the novel. This would make me believe that a good writer would practice these techniques more often, but I think that it would almost be automatic, that they wouldn't realize what they are doin, that it would be second nature to them. I also think that how a good writer becomes one is through reading, because without reading a variety of material they wouln't develop key techniques that other good writers that came before used and practiced.

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